WILMSLOW'S last remaining link with the RAF is to be consigned to history.

Councillors have agreed to change the name of a 1950s housing estate built for officers working at the former RAF base at Handforth Dean.

The Dean Row neighbourhood, which is still known locally as the RAF Wilmslow Estate, is to be officially re-named Oaklands.

Residents have campaigned for the change in identity in a bid to revitalise the estate, which has been dogged by vandalism and litter problems.

Campaign organiser, Jean Farrar, of Lancaster Road, said the new name is just the first step in a plan to re-establish a sense of community spirit in the neighbourhood.

She said: "We hope a new identity will help foster a sense of pride for residents living on the estate. We just want to make it a cleaner, friendlier and safer place to live in."

The estate had been the target of vandals who held parties and started fires at a derelict house on Lincoln Road, before running riot around the neighbourhood.

Fed-up residents finally signed a petition pleading for intervention from police and councillors which has led to an immediate change in fortune.

Jean said: "The amount of support we have had since the petition has been remarkable.

"The derelict house has now been sold and a new family has moved in. Councillors have also agreed to spend £3000 cleaning up the estate and police seemed to have quelled the vandalism problem. It's all going great."

Councillors Paul Whiteley and Jim Crockett, who helped give the angry residents a voice at Macclesfield Town Hall, will join County Councillor Ann Tyrell at a neighbourhood clean up on Friday April 19.

Children from the local Oaklands Infant and Dean Row Junior schools will lend their support to the effort which will continue throughtout the week.

The council has supplied free bin bags, gloves and litter pickers which residents can use by calling Jean on 01625 549239.

The event will be the first to be organised by newly formed Oaklands Residents Association.

Councillor Whiteley said he is proud of their achievements: "I am very impressed with the results they have achieved. It is a good illustration of what can be done when residents decide to help themselves."